Sunday, October 30, 2011

Going to extremes as Carolina drops another heartbreaker, 24-21, at home to Minnesota Sunday. The Panthers dropped to 2-6 entering their bye week (also, here's a link to the video Panthers beat writer Joe Person and I did following the game to recap the painful loss):

Worst yank: Olindo Mare missed a 31-yard field goal that would have tied the game and sent it into overtime with 29 seconds to go.

Best fourth-down play: Facing a fourth-and-15 from his own 35 with 1:09 to go, Cam Newton fired a strike to Brandon LaFell, who turned it into a 44-yard play to set up the final dramatics.

Worst offensive run: The Panthers had three straight three-and-outs in the second half, which helped wear down their defense and also meant that their 21-14 lead disappeared.

Best run defense: Carolina did a fairly admirable job on Adrian Peterson, who got 86 yards in 21 carries but never had a run of longer than 15 yards. On the other hand, Peterson hurt Carolina several times in the passing game, gaining 76 more yards on five short receptions.

Best stats in a losing cause: Cam Newton had 290 yards passing, three TDs, no interceptions and a QB rating of 117.6. And he lost. It didn't help, however, that he also lost his first two fumbles of the season (Minnesota would turn both into TDs).

Worst penalty: Steve Smith was flagged for holding on that final drive when a Newton run had gotten Carolina to a first-and-goal inside the Minnesota 10. Smith didn't like the call, nor did coach Ron Rivera.

Worst prediction: Unlike last year's team, in which you could almost always pick the Panthers correctly by choosing them to lose, this one is quite unpredictable to me. I've now missed the Panthers' result the past three weeks in a row -- I picked them to beat Minnesota. The only way I can guarantee that it won't be four straight Sundays is the Panthers have a bye Nov.6th.

Worst tackle: Chris Gamble missed a critical, one-on-one third-down tackle against Minnesota's Percy Harvin that helped the Vikings immensely in the fourth quarter on their field-goal drive that ultimately won the game.

43 comments:

You would think it was the young guys making the mistakes...Gamble misses a huge tackle and Smith holds (i assume the call was correct)...Looks like the veterans are hurting us,..Come on, you are suppose to teach the young guys.

3rd and 10, 3rd and 10, 3rd and 10 over and over and then give up a 1st down. Hey Panthers defense, what's the point of playing hard for the first two downs only to give the opponent a 1st down on 3rd and 10?

Jared Allen was in our backfield more than j stew and deangelo.This team needs alot of help.Stop saying cam is the universe.The panthers are a 4-12 team every year until we get ALOT of help.We can't block,tackle,or stop anyone on 3rd and 10.The offense needs 2 playmakers and better O linemen.

Anonymousd is right. Now matter how great Cam Newton plays, he cannot play defense or kick fiend goals (anyone think the cutting of Kasick to save a big salary was a mistake on what would have been an automatic field goal at the end) or be on "special teams." Each time that the Panthers score, the defense gives up a compensating touchdown to the opposition. Newton's great play -- deep passes on third down or great runs -- seems an exercise in futility with this defense. Now that the Panthers have a decend secondary and pass coverage, they cannot stop the run! It was also disheartening to see how easy Ponder had it completing passes on third down. Did the front four get to Ponder all day? I don't think so. The only pressure came from unexpected blitzes, which usually just put Ponder on the run on a desperate rollout. At least, this provided a distration to him in the passing game.

Anonymous is right. Now matter how well he plays, Cam Newton cannot play defense, kick field goals, or play "special teams." He moved the team to the one at the end of the game, but there was a holding penalty. And then Mare blew the field goal. Anyone question now the getting rid of Kaysay just to save a big salary and a roster spot? That field goal would have been automatic for Kaysay.

I agree, we need defenive help bad. We also need a new special teams coach and need to cut A. Edwards and get a new punt returner. An new GM would help as well. Outside of that we are Superbowl bound Baby!!

This is really not our year. We make critical mistakes each game that kill us. Today we had three critical plays (2 fumbles and a missed field goal) that resulted in a 17 point swing. We can't be giving away 17 points a game and expect to win. We need better discipline and better play from many players.

To boot, the refs are killing us with these phantom holding calls on our WRs. Nanee nor Smiths calls were justified. It's absurd.

Every part of the team is better fromprevious year. All players are responsible for not winning yesterday. There were receivers open and passes overthrown that maybe could have been a score. Our year will come even with the players we have. Stop the arena ball and put together a good game plan and stick to it.

Are we kidding ourselves. Cam is the most overated player on the field. He now has the worst starting record of any quarterback starter. When do the excuses stop and Clausen given a chance to finally play behind a descent offensive line.

Worst starting record of any starter?? Quit hating on Cam!! You guys have nothing better to do? The Colt's are winless, Denver sucks, Miami is a mess. I don't think Cam's record is any worse than those teams. Aikman won 1 game when he was a rookie. Manning wasn't great his rookie year.....Those are HOF QB's there. It's a team game, and the Panther's record isn't the fault of the offense. Would you rather have Claussen back there? He wouldn't have a chance. Embrace what we have, or keep your mouth shut.

Even the announcer, who played in the NFL spoke openly about the questionable hold call(s). For some reason if a defender who is being blocked falls to the ground, it's a hold in the NFL. You would think the rules committee would understand this rule a little deeper and know that defenders away from the play being blocked are "coached" to fall as if they were being pulled down to draw the hold flag. It's getting absurd and unfortunately game changing in most cases. I'm not a whiner and the previous post about horrible hold calls wasn't me. I just see what I see and hear. Acting is a part of the defense to draw flags and frankly, its no better than the soccer flops we have come to hate. They have to do something about the rule itself. A hold call on long runs and kick/punt returns is becoming an epidemic in the NFL. Something has to change as it is taking the excitement out of the game tenfold.

I'm just amazed how gutless Rivera is and no one will call him on it. Forget playing for overtime, this team is not going to the playoffs. If he had sent the offense back out on a fourth and two those guys would have run through a wall for Newton to get him into the end zone. Rivera is John Fox light. If they had scored the whole country would have been talking about Cam and the Panthers.

rmelton, I said the same thing when Mare trotted on the field. At the very least, would have tried to draw them off with Cam under center but felt we should have gone for it though and I think we would have caught them so far off guard, it would have been an easy convert.

Proof is in the pudding folks. Quit it with Cam stinks. Panthers are 7th in the NFL in offense points and nearly dead last in defense points given up (31st). If it isn't any clearer than that then I don't know what else needs to be put in front of you who think Cam is not the answer. Our D stinks and is to blame for every lose this season, it's just not the stats, watch the games, every 3rd and long we attempt to defend. It's pathetic.

Gamble's missed tackle on the critical 3rd and long play is a microcosm of how this team has played defense this year. They do alot of good things to put themselves in a good position, then miss a tackle on a critical 3rd and long to allow the other team to keep a winning drive going.

Why don't we hear about the two costly Newton fumbles that led to 14 Minnesota points? A fumble 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage is a lot more damaging than an interception thrown 30 yards down the field. The first one spotted Minnesota 7 points early in the game and the next one killed a drive and gave them the ball with a short field. Minnesota is not running the ball like they did in the second half if they were down 14 points.

"Why don't we hear about the two costly Newton fumbles that led to 14 Minnesota points".................because frankly, #1 is making plays, moving the offense down the field and scoring. His ability to move the offense efficiently far out ways a misque or two throughout a game, that is going to happen and expected with his style of putting it all out there on the line. Everything he accomplishes on the field with help of course from 89, 28, 34, 17..etc is thrown down the drain with laughable defense every single down. We cannot stop anybody on any down it seems and if it is 3rd and 12, forget about it.

AS GOOD AS SMITH IS, HE MUST BE COACHED TO NOT BLOCK. ALL HE HAS TO DO IS TAKE THE DEFENDER AWAY . KEEP HIM BUSY. DO NOT GIVE THE REF AN OPPORTUNITY TO THROW A FLAG AGAINST YOU.MOST OFFICIALS RECOGNIZE WHEN A RECEIVER IS TRYING TO BLOCK(SOMETHING THEY ARE REALLY NOT COACHED TO DO)PLUS MOST OFFICIALS DO NOT LIKE SMITH'S SHOWBOAT ATTITUDE. THEY ARE JUST LOOKING FOR A REASON TO FLAG HIM.HOPE HE LEARNED A LESSON.ALSO, WE SHOULD HAVE PLAYED TO WIN, NOT TIE THE GAME. A QUICK SHIFT FROM FIELD GOAL TO PASS SCTION PLAY WOULD HAVE CAUGHT THEM OFF GUARD. PLAY TO WIN.

Agree with a couple of posters on going for the first down instead of FG. Rivera had a chance to make history with going for the first down and win. I think if we make it or not, respect with what we're trying to accomplish here in Carolina would have resonated throughout the league on that one play.

Face reality. The only reason Smith and Newton have piled up the yards is 100% because of the swine union authority who rig games and have been for years. Vince McMahon who grew up in Pinehurst NC and played OL for Moore County HS graduating in 1964 before heading to NYC to take his paternals wrestling operation, this this and opened his XFL that was bought out by the NFL. Rigged.

Newton is the poster child of the swine union and Smith benefits from his passes. The first 2 games were given as a gift and weening afterwards.

Looks like the union will give Newton who is their prize token black QB a full year since they suck so bad but after that its over. This includes running and TDs. Its a race thing as usual.

Some Ds are itching to injure Newton so they may buck the union demands who extorted 2 billion extra in the strike for this elite players club so they cant say a word.

Without union help Newton had 250 yrs in 3 games in preseaon. Smith had less. Go fig. Rigged and they still cant win.

Due to his crime spree is Newton cursed? Bad Karma and not even Buddist? No Mojo.

Although Mare won't pass any blame for missing the field goal, watch the film on all of his kicks ... on every kick, there are 3-4 defenders in the backfield. They have the worst Special Teams blocking in the NFL, and it has to be impacting the timing of the kicking game. Example: go back and watch the extra point that was blocked in the Saints game ... the defender practically picked the ball off of the ground.

No excuses, but the coaching staff needs to get the protection cleaned up ASAP.